Thomas Matthew (Tom) Spittler died peacefully at home in Charlottesville, Virginia on January 25, 2026. He was born in Garfield Heights, Ohio in 1930, the third of eight children. After attending St. Ignatius High School in Cleveland, he joined the Jesuit order in 1948, studying philosophy and theology at Spring Hill College in Mobile, Alabama and at the Jesuit Seminary in West Baden, Indiana. He earned a PhD in Chemistry in 1961 at Loyola University of Chicago, where he also conducted his post-doctoral research. It was there that he met the love of his life, Joan Leland (Sister Joseph Mary, BVM), during the Chicago blizzard of 1967. They left their religious orders to marry in 1969, convinced that they could do more good in the world together as a couple. This was certainly true. Over the course of their 59 years together, they provided a permanent home to eight children (both adopted and biological) and a crucial temporary home to more than a dozen foster-children and a long list of adults who needed their help.

After leaving the Jesuit order (and thus his faculty position at the University of Detroit), Tom dedicated his career to environmental protection. He joined the federal Environmental Protection Agency in 1972, soon after its founding, ultimately serving as Branch Chief at the Lexington, Massachusetts laboratory. He worked tirelessly on urgent problems like lead poisoning in children and ground water contamination, with a particular focus on the development of detection instruments to be used in the field. He lectured extensively: domestically for the American Chemical Society and internationally as a part of outreach to the USSR and China in the 1980’s.

His service to others continued in his retirement in Sun City West, Arizona. There, with Joan, he did extensive volunteer work, ranging from tutoring immigrant high school students, to working with inmates in the Arizona State Hospital, to serving as treasurer of the Northwest Valley Democrats. 

Tom was preceded in death, as any 95-year-old would expect to be, by his parents and all his siblings, but also by his beloved son Edward Matthew (“Biddie”) Spittler, who died as a toddler on January 21, 1976—almost fifty years to the day before Tom’s death. His loss is mourned and his life celebrated by his beloved wife Joan Leland Spittler and their children, grandchildren, and great-grandchildren. He and Joan were parted in death exactly as they met in life: during a blizzard. We look forward to their reunion in eternity.